UNITED STATES
School CP - April 2015

The Gainesville Sun, Florida, 5 April 2015

Different schools of thought on paddling

(extracts)

As more national organizations have spoken out against it,
corporal punishment seems to have fallen out of favor for all but
the most "old school" of disciplinarians.

But one holdout on the practice is public schools.

Nineteen states, including Florida, allow corporal punishment
in public schools, according to the most recent data available
from the Center for Effective Discipline, even as groups such as
the American Psychological Association, the American Medical
Association, the American Civil Liberties Union and the National
Education Association oppose it.

Corporal punishment is allowed in Florida public schools, but
the power to set policies or to ban it rests with local school
boards. School districts that use corporal punishment must review
their policies every three years.

There's no regulation on the method of physical punishment,
although the device of choice in Florida is the paddle, usually wooden.

Districts are not required to get a parent's permission before
paddling a student, although most do, and parents may file
paperwork with a school that prevents their children from being paddled.

During the 2012-13 school year, which was the most recent data
made available by the Florida Department of Education, 28 of the
state's 67 school districts still allowed corporal punishment in
the form of paddling.

Alachua County banned the practice in 1989. Local school board
members said the issue hasn't resurfaced, and it's unlikely to do so.

[...]

Regardless, several nearby districts, as well as many of the
Panhandle counties, are still using the paddle.

Suwannee County reported the most paddlings in 2012-13, with
359 occurrences in both elementary and secondary school.

Holmes County, where high school students make the paddles in
their wood shop class, had the highest percentage of paddlings
compared to the student population, at a rate of 9.2 percent.

In 2012-13, paddling was also reported in Clay, Columbia,
Dixie, Gilchrist, Levy and Union counties.

"It's in our school conduct code, but it's normally
requested by the parents," said Carlton Faulk,
superintendent of Union County Public Schools, which reported 138
paddling incidents in 2012-13.

Faulk said students usually choose to be paddled rather than
suspended, but parents must still approve the punishment.

In Dixie County, Superintendent Mark Rains said paddling is
used only in elementary schools, but it's getting more rare --
the district of about 2,000 students reported 16 incidents in 2012-13.

In some areas, corporal punishment is falling out of favor even faster.

"Clay County doesn't have an all-out ban on it, but ...
it's in limited cases," said Gavin Rollins, a spokesman for the district.

While the 35,000-student district reported 34 paddlings in
2012-13, Rollins said no incidents had been reported so far this year.

"(The policy) is something student services are reviewing
and evaluating," he said.

Over the years, other districts have defended their choice to
continue using corporal punishment as an effective disciplinary
tool, one that some parents prefer having as an option.

"It's sort of developed over the years into this cultural
issue, and I think the problem is that whether we give the choice
to children or parents or even principals, we have to take a step
back from whether or not it works or it's effective," said
Joseph Gagnon, an associate professor of education at the
University of Florida who recently co-authored a study detailing
the use of corporal punishment in Florida schools and calling for
an end to the practice.

"Honestly, to give a child or an adolescent that kind of
a choice, I think it's inappropriate to put that on them,"
Gagnon said, referencing the oft-repeated claim that students
prefer being paddled over an out-of-school suspension.

By contrast, child care providers who contract with affiliates
of the Florida Department of Children and Families, such as local
Early Learning Coalitions, are strictly prohibited from striking
or paddling children.

"There's zero tolerance for all corporal
punishment," said Nancy Lebold-Dearden, director of program
services for the Early Learning Coalition of Alachua County.

The Town Talk, Alexandria, Louisiana, 16 April 2015

Natchitoches educator charged in 2nd incident in school

An assistant principal at a Natchitoches Parish public school
has been charged with battery for allegedly hitting a teacher on
the buttocks with a paddle, according to police.

Just late last month, the principal at the same school --
Frankie Ray Jackson Sr. Technical Center -- was arrested on
several charges after a student alleged that he was abused by the man.

In this case, a female teacher on Feb. 10 told the school
resource officer that the school's assistant principal, Hugo
Vogel, had hit her on the buttocks with a paddle.

The incident was reported to the Natchitoches Police
Department's criminal investigations division for further
investigation, which led to a warrant for 64-year-old Vogel.

Vogel was arrested Monday at the school, charged with simple
battery. He later was released on a $3,000 bond.

Natchitoches Parish School District Superintendent told The
Town Talk that he placed Vogel on paid leave Tuesday while he
checked with police on the incident. Since Vogel's charge is a
misdemeanor, he was allowed to return to work on Wednesday, said Skinner.

Click to enlarge

The school serves four distinct groups of students, according
to the Natchitoches Parish School District's website. Those
groups include students in a one-year remediation program to earn
their high school diplomas, students in the Accelerated Student
Academic Pathway program, students with special needs or
disabilities and students that may have been expelled from their
home schools.

In the earlier incident, principal Bobby Joe Benjamin Jr., 41,
was charged with cruelty to juveniles, aggravated battery, simple
battery and second-degree battery. He bonded out of jail on a
$9,500 property bond.

An investigation had started after an 11-year-old boy's mother
complained that her son had been punched, thrown against a wall
and paddled by Benjamin.

Benjamin remains on leave, according to Skinner. He said his
investigation into the incident should be finished soon, at which
time he would make a suggestion on Benjamin's employment status.